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Lifetime Achievement Award: Patti Page

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Music industry veteran Jerry F. Sharell pays tribute to the late GRAMMY-winning country/pop singer
Jerry F. Sharell
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 55th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

For me, writing an appreciation for Patti Page could take many pages in this book, so I'll give you my abbreviated version of the respect and admiration this great singer has bred in me and countless others. 

As a kid I remember loving her voice because it was smooth, ever-soothing, super-sensitive, and creatively classic. It was easy for me to fall in love with an infectious melody like the million-selling "With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming," but it was the voice of "The Singing Rage" that would make me a lifelong fan.

She did not just sing the songs. She sang them as if she wrote them, like she owned them. She gave her heart to all of her recordings and you could hear and feel it. As a young performer, she was an inspiration of mine as I worked my way to a degree at Kent State University singing in clubs, making $12 a night as a "boy singer." Patti's interpretation of a song was always something I would cling to. You could hear her passion on recordings like "Old Cape Cod," "Allegheny Moon" and "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte," as well as her signature song "Tennessee Waltz," which stayed at No. 1 for 13 weeks. I was enamored when she would harmonize with her own vocals, which was a daring venture in the mid-'50s. More than a dozen of her singles became million sellers, an astounding feat. She reportedly sold more than 100 million records. Her version of the great standard "You Belong To Me" is still chilling.

Patti was a guest of mine on radio shows I've hosted over the years. Her professional attitude and friendliness are legend. Noticing a touch of jazz in some of her vocals in the latter years, I asked her about it. She not only confessed her love for jazz, but also a deep appreciation for the musicians who played it. Needless to say, her admiration for country music and music makers was endless. Her singing is unforgettable and her personal style was sparkling. She always looked like she was walking down a red carpet. She won the hearts of fans all over the world. 

Patti was made aware she was receiving this award just weeks before her passing on Jan. 1, and I'm sure she was proud of the achievement and the recognition it represented. She is and always will be music royalty and will be fondly remembered forever.

(Jerry F. Sharell is a five-decade veteran of the music industry and former president & CEO of Society of Singers. He hosts "Sundays With Sinatra" on radio station KKJZ-FM in Long Beach, Calif., and hosted "Great American Songbook" on KGIL-AM in Los Angeles.) 

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Glenn Gould

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Lang Lang pays tribute to an amazing personality and groundbreaking musician
Lang Lang
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 55th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

Glenn Gould was an amazing personality. Every note he played was so individual, from his groundbreaking first recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations (at the age of 23) to his recorded surveys of huge sections of the piano literature. He was perhaps one of the most unusual musicians ever to have performed (he retired from public performance completely at a young age, spending the rest of his performing life in the recording studio), but such was his wonderful musicianship that he is only more beloved by his audience. He performed very little in comparison with the other great soloists, yet his connection with his audience was so incredible that the music-loving public was (and is) devoted to him through the great strength of his musical communication.

Think of Glenn and one word springs to mind: Bach. Glenn had a connection with Bach's music perhaps above all other composers. It was completely suited to his very intelligent approach to music (he always tried to approach a score as a fellow composer, aiming for a freedom and understanding as if he might have written it himself) and he recorded nearly all of Bach's output for the keyboard across his career. The clarity and beauty of sound he brings to this composer is unparalleled. Bach said he wrote his music for the glory of heaven, and Glenn's performances elevate his works to a spirituality that I have never heard equaled. The Goldberg Variations recordings that he did at the beginning and end of his career are two thoroughly different, and equally beautiful, interpretations of one of the most magnificent works in the piano literature and every pianist (including myself) that has ever opened the score lives in the shadow of Glenn's performance.

But Glenn was an artist far above and beyond one composer. He recorded music from the classics through Scriabin and Schoenberg to his own works — and was not afraid to be controversial in his delivery (a stated distaste for the music of Mozart, for example, of whom he held the opinion that he died too late, led to some sometimes shocking and invariably brilliant performances). His famous performance of Brahms' D minor concerto led to his collaborator Leonard Bernstein issuing a disclaimer to the audience at Carnegie Hall beforehand, and is a very personal but amazing interpretation. His favorite composer was the early master Orlando Gibbons, whose work he passionately performed both on record and in the concert hall. His artistic heroes ranged from Leopold Stokowski to Barbra Streisand.

Although Glenn Gould died tragically young at only 50, he committed an enormous amount to disc (and film), and it is through his recorded legacy that we can remember him.

Glenn, you were the most amazing musician. We are so lucky to have had you among us. Thank you for leaving behind these wonderful recordings that move and inspire me and countless others. Glenn, we miss you.

(Lang Lang is arguably the most renowned Chinese pianist in history and enjoys superstar status in the classical music world. He was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2007 for his recording of Beethoven's piano concertos Nos. 1 & 4, and serves as the GRAMMY Cultural Ambassador to China.)

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Lifetime Achievement Award: Ravi Shankar

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Composer Philip Glass pays tribute to legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar
Philip Glass
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 55th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

In the mid-'50s, while the academics, pundits and practitioners of "new music" were debating and legislating the future of their art, a young man from India arrived in the West and, unbidden and unannounced, set into motion a revolution in Western musical language that is today, more than 50 years later, still powerfully shaping our landscape.

That young man was, of course, Ravi Shankar.

He was already famous in India as a leading master of the classical music world and foremost sitar player of the day. He soon became a close friend and collaborator of the great French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and the formidable violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin.

His appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 would lead him to all manner of performances at other festivals as well. He had become a living pied piper of music with a huge following among young musicians, composers and theater/dance enthusiasts.

In fact, Raviji (as he was affectionately known to students and friends alike) was well-known and adored not only by the rich and famous but by the young and passionate as well. In that regard, the Beatles qualified in all four categories. Not surprisingly, he had a long and close friendship with George Harrison and, along the way, made formidable waves in the worlds of popular and commercial music.

He was particularly drawn to young people — both musicians and music lovers. He was an indefatigable teacher. Lessons could begin anytime. On several occasions I saw him lay down the sitar and lecture his audience on the immorality of drug taking, smoking and drinking. These kinds of sermons were tolerated kindly enough by the young fans, who were sitting it out, waiting for that magnificent torrent of music to begin again. In those days, and to the end, he was treated as a superstar. Always gracious and kind, though occasionally not exactly on time, except in his music, when he would be impeccable.

He is no longer with us but his legacy is all around us. Simply, today's music world would not be what it is without him. His companions, students and friends are everywhere. His brilliance, enthusiasm and simple love for the life in which he was immersed remain as a wave of energy that continues to animate everything it touches.

I spoke to Raviji just a few days before he died. Sukanya, his wife and longtime companion, arranged the call for me, for which I will always be grateful. It wasn't a long conversation, nor did it need to be. Things were said that had been said before but needed to be said one last time.

Seeing a great man die is like watching a sunset. For me, he was the greatest of the great and the best of the best. At that unbelievable and unknowable event, as with the last tender light of the evening, all the beauty and sadness, joy and terror of life at last come together. Even Death, at that moment, is briefly robbed of its finality.

(Philip Glass has been called one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He has earned four GRAMMY and three Academy Award nominations. Glass collaborated with Ravi Shankar on the 1990 album Passages.)

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The Magic Of Charlie Haden

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Red Hot Chili Peppers co-founder Flea pays tribute to legendary jazz bassist
Flea
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(GRAMMY-winning jazz bassist Charlie Haden was honored with The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. The original version of the following tribute ran in the 55th GRAMMY Awards program book that year. Haden died July 11 at the age of 76.)

Charlie Haden has made it his life's mission to uplift the lives of others. In my case, he has succeeded dramatically. Time after time, I have listened to his recordings, seen him perform, and been touched by the divine truth. When I put on that first Liberation Music Orchestra record, or The Shape Of Jazz To Come, or the recent Come Sunday, I vibrate with a feeling that gives me hope for humanity, makes my suffering and complaints feel petty, lets me forgive anyone who has ever done me wrong, and most importantly, makes me aspire to create a light of my own, to put something beautiful out into the universe. This is a humble aspiration, to get a little footlight going, to merge in the large planet of glowing by a great like Charlie Haden. But that's what his music does, that's who he is — a person who brings us all together, who reminds us that we are all connected by our highest selves.

Despite the sophistication and technical brilliance of his playing, which comes from a soul enthralled with the folk and country music he grew up on as a toddler, the bebop he fell in love with as a teenager, a highly intelligent mind and body, work ethic disciplined enough to learn it, the countless hours of practicing and studying the music he loved … , despite the highly cerebral music he has played, his music is still for everyone. No matter how far out or evolved he has gotten, his music has always been for all humans, not for academics. His sound is one that touches everyone — it will make you weep, dance like a lunatic, and sit back and listen to the story unfold. The most highly spiritual thing that anyone can do is have faith and be completely in the moment. When Charlie Haden makes music, that's exactly where he is, and that is what enlightenment is.

A few years ago, I had the fortune to play with the great Ornette Coleman. I practiced for months to prepare. I was nervous about it and when the big day came, I was up there with these great jazz musicians with all the chops in the world playing maniacally, and I'm just an uneducated punk rocker, but I did my best. I did OK. I was in awe of Ornette, and did my best to support him with all my heart. A lot of different musicians played that night, all of whom were very well-respected, but at one point, all the many musicians left the stage, Charlie walked on it, and it was just Charlie and Ornette. After all the intense virtuosity that had gone on through the night, Charlie began to play a simple, bluesy, twangy, country riff, a little folk melody, and I felt Ornette really come alive, saw the audience fall into a reverent silence, and Charlie just schooled everybody, shredded everything that came before. He had the ability to play anything, but just came from the gutbucket with the humble truth, and he and Ornette began to dance around each other, and it was the greatest thing I ever saw. These two giants, who turned jazz upside down 50 years earlier, just connecting on the highest level, and the sheer beauty and violence of it reduced me to joyous tears.

When one is playing the kind of improvisational music that Charlie Haden does, he is constantly, through the vehicle of technique and knowledge, channeling magic, the cosmos, letting God speak, whatever you want to call it. To do that at the level of a man like Charlie Haden, one has to have the highest character, the biggest heart, the purest intentions, and utter disregard for commerce. Charlie Haden's motivation has always been to reach for the highest light, brave the depths where one is most vulnerable, to reach that state of ecstasy where time does not exist, where all our world is an illusion, and to bring it on home to us, so we can love. He has done it all his life. I love Charlie Haden and I am so grateful for him. What an awesome f***ing dude.

(Six-time GRAMMY winner Flea is a co-founder of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their most recent album is 2011's I'm With You.)

The Temptations

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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Lifetime Achievement Award: The Temptations

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A tribute to one of Motown's most celebrated vocal groups
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm
GRAMMY.com

(In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. In the days leading up to the 55th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2013 Special Merit Awards recipients.)

As their name suggests, the Temptations' music was hard to resist. It was so irresistible, they became arguably the most successful vocal group of the '60s and one of the defining acts that made Detroit soul as important an export for the city as the cars produced by General Motors or Ford.

And the group's collective talent allowed them equal success as a sweet soul group in the early '60s, and as the makers of socially charged, muscular soul in the late '60s and early '70s.

The Temptations came together with the merger of two Motor City vocal groups: the Primes, led by Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams, and the Distants featuring Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin. Originally called the Elgins, they quickly renamed themselves the Temptations, but one element was still missing. That proved to be tenor David Ruffin. Shortly after his addition, the group went into the studio with Smokey Robinson and emerged with their first Top 20 hit, 1964's "The Way You Do The Things You Do." The quintet followed in 1965 with their first No. 1 hit, "My Girl," which was co-written by Robinson.

As the decade progressed, producer/songwriter Norman Whitfield took the reins in the studio and the husky-voiced Ruffin handled more leads. The result was a grittier urban sound on hits such as "(I Know) I'm Losing You" and "I Wish It Would Rain."

After Ruffin's departure in 1968, which led to the addition of Dennis Edwards, the Temptations segued into more politically aware songs. Hits such as "Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today)" made them among the earliest Motown acts to make socially conscious music, likely influencing such labelmates as Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, who in the early '70s would take their cue from colleagues such as the Temptations as well as the changing times to make explosively strong activist music.

Still working closely with Whitfield on songs he co-wrote with Barrett Strong, the Temptations scored other lasting hits such as "Cloud Nine," "Run Away Child, Running Wild," "Psychedelic Shack," and "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone." And just to prove they could still record perhaps the world's greatest ballad, they also reached No. 1 with "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" during this period.

Nearly 40 Top 40 hits over a 50-plus-year career through various lineup changes is a glowing testament to a group that so defined, embodied and inhabited the role of the R&B vocal group, it might be tempting to call them the ultimate vocal group of all time. Don't feel bad if you give in to that temptation.